1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure is generally directed to child motion devices, and more particularly to a child motion device with a sliding storage compartment for integrating a music player or other electronic device with the child motion device.
2. Brief Description of Related Technology
There are a number of commonly known juvenile products that are equipped and configured to seat a child, such as strollers, infant carriers, car seats, playards, bouncer seats, entertainers, and swings. Some juvenile products are known to be provided with continuous motion capabilities created by an electronic motor or with on-board electronics for entertainment or soothing purposes. For example, a conventional child swing typically includes an A-frame type support structure, hanger arms pivotally attached to the frame, and a seat suspended on the hanger arms. An electrically powered drive mechanism is often utilized to supply energy to swing the seat in a continuous pendulum swinging motion.
A number of child swings and other juvenile products are also known to include electrically powered features that can sooth the child. For example, some swings employ a mechanism to vibrate the seat, wherein the vibration is generated from an electric power source in order to calm the baby. A number of swings and other juvenile products have also implemented speaker systems that emit sounds that are intended to sooth the child. In one example, the speakers can emit music or other soothing sounds provided by an on-board memory device.
Additionally, some juvenile products are known that provide designated, open compartments that are configured to store a number of items ranging from handheld digital music players to water bottles. These types of known compartments often include exposed input/output headphone jacks on an exterior of the device adjacent the open compartment. The jacks are wired to an internal or on-board speaker system and thus intended to emit music from the personal or handheld music player for both the child and the caregiver. The wires between the jacks and the handheld unit are typically exposed and thus can be inadvertently grabbed, caught, unplugged, damaged, or the like during normal use. Further, the child seat occupant may accidentally become entangled in the wires as well. These disadvantages can be magnified if the juvenile product is a child motion device such as a swing.
Several commercially available juvenile products have been adapted to accommodate handheld digital music players. For example, the Discovering Water Rocker Seat, which is available from Baby Einstein as model number 30744, and the Platinum AHR Rowsgate, which is available from Britax (Australia) as model number 3446, both include on-board speaker systems and an accompanying external headphone jack. As another example, the Overland Limited Jogging Stroller, which is available from Jeep as model number JJ001, also incorporates an on-board speaker system. This stroller product places the audio wire headphone jack within a cavity on the stroller that is covered by a lid. The wires, however, between the handheld music player and the jacks are still typically lengthy and can extend from the cavity and the lid can be accessible to an occupant of the stroller.
Unfortunately, these known compartment and jack configurations are often easily within reach of the child seat occupant. Thus, the wires are also within reach of the child. Further, the wires utilized for these products are typically provided by the caregiver to substitute the headphone wires for the music players. Thus, the caregiver must obtain the wires in order to take advantage of the feature. These wires also are typically relatively lengthy and thus can be easily grabbed by a child or be accidentally tangled or caught on other objects during use of the juvenile product. This could become an even stronger disadvantage in child motion devices such as swings, and particularly where the child seat moves relative to the compartment and/or the wires.
While the disclosed storage compartments and juvenile product are susceptible of embodiments in various forms, specific embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings and are described hereafter with the understanding that the disclosure is intended to be illustrative, and is not intended to limit the invention to the specific embodiments described and illustrated herein.